What will it take for this conspiracy theory to go away? Yet another person who was involved in making The Simpsons has had to deny that the show predicted the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Josh Weinstein, who was a co-showrunner on the episode “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,†responded on Tuesday to people to the longstanding internet theory that the animated show knew about the 2001 attacks in advance. “I can tell you the unfortunate 9/11 one was strictly because 9 dollars seemed like the funniest low bus fare and we wanted the World Trade Center buildings in the ad because that’s where the story took place,†Weinstein tweeted. “Totally, totally a coincidence.†The episode, which aired in 1997, includes a shot of an ad that says “New York†above a price tag of $9. The Twin Towers appear to form an 11, which was enough to convince some people that the attack was premeditated and that Fox was dropping hints.
Bill Oakley, the other co-showrunner on the episode, previously attempted to quash the rumors back in 2010, when he similarly told the New York Observer that the fare was picked because it was “comically cheap†and that the silhouette was logically included to represent New York City. “I signed off on the design. It’s pretty self-explanatory,†Oakley said. He did concede that it was “eerie,†given that the series had an “entire act of World Trade Center jokes.†(Indeed, several Fox affiliates pulled the episode from syndication after the events of September 11, 2001.) Original Simpsons writer and current showrunner Al Jean has also described the shot as “so bizarre†to NME, referring to it as an “insane coincidence.â€
Of course, conspiracy theorists are all ignoring a different explanation for why the numbers 9/11 appeared in the show, which is that maybe everyone who works on The Simpsons just has the gift of unintentional prophecy. After all, the show has correctly foretold many other events, including several Super Bowl outcomes, Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, and Donald Trump’s presidency. In an episode that aired last year, Bart travels to the future and returns to tell his family a bunch of events that should be “predicted†in the show. “We knew we had to address that,†Simpsons writer Brian Kelley said on Vulture’s Good One podcast, “just because you can get a little tired of addressing it in real life.â€